Over 4 Billion Starbucks Cups End Up in the Trash Each Year

This post was originally published on Alternet, and is reposted here with permission.

It’s 7am. You drag yourself out of bed, pull on your work clothes, brush your teeth and hop on the bus. You get off at your stop, and head to the nearest Starbucks for a cup of coffee to wake up your foggy brain. You sip the delicious, caffeinated concoction on your walk to work, and the cup’s empty by the time you arrive. You look for a place to toss it—but wait, do you throw it away or put it in a recycling bin?

This is the story of the Starbucks cup.

Most people don’t know this, but Starbucks paper cups are not recyclable in most cities across the U.S. because the cups are lined with plastic. In today’s world, a paper cup is no longer just a paper cup. It’s plastic pollution.

These plastic-lined Starbucks cups are a huge problem for our waste and recycling streams. Although Starbucks cups are accepted for recycling in a few major cities in the U.S. (New York, Seattle, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.), the rest go into the trash, to the tune of more than 4 billion cups a year. That’s 8,000 Starbucks cups each minute that are harvested from fresh-cut trees, used once, and sent straight to the landfill.

Even in cities where Starbucks paper cups are accepted for recycling, it remains unknown how many cups actually make it all the way through the recycling process. The plastic lining is inefficient and difficult to recycle; it adheres to the paper and can clog the recycling equipment, limiting the amount of high-quality paper fiber that can be captured and repurposed. Oftentimes, the cups ultimately still get tossed in the trash.

Our world faces an enormous challenge over the growing mounds of trash and plastic pollution, in our cities, our beaches and deep in our oceans. By 2050, the world’s oceans are projected to have more plastic in them than fish. And yet, 8,000 Starbucks cups per minute are thrown away. Scientists were recently shocked to discover the world’s seabeds and ocean floors are covered with countless tiny fragments of microplastics, all of which can travel up the food chain to humans. Our world’s waters are full of plastic.

Starbucks cups are contributing to this pollution problem, all because of the plastic lining. If the cups were lined with a different material, one that disintegrated at the same rate as paper, they would be much easier to recycle with conventional recycling equipment. Then, everyone could put their Starbucks coffee cups into the paper recycling bin, instead of straight into the trash.

That’s where the #BetterCup campaign comes in. Stand.earth has worked for decades to push corporations to take responsibility for their pollution, and to change their business model to support, not harm our climate. Right now, we’re calling on Starbucks to make a better cup—a 100% recyclable cup without a plastic lining.

The technology for a better cup is out there. Starbucks is a leader, and if they put their mind to it, they can create a recyclable cup. Who led the way on large-scale sourcing of sustainably-grown coffee? Starbucks. Who led the way on providing health benefits for domestic partnerships? Starbucks.

Nearly a decade ago, Starbucks’ own leadership acknowledged its plastic-lined paper cup is one of the company’s biggest environmental liabilities, and they pledged to create a 100% recyclable cup. Nine years later, we’re still waiting for Starbucks to deliver on that promise.

Starbucks is feeling pressure from consumers to change—its own website notes it gets more customer comments about cup recycling than any other issue. It’s time for Starbucks executives to stop dragging their feet and become true industry leaders.

We know Starbucks takes sustainability seriously. If Starbucks applies the same ingenuity to creating a 100% recyclable cup without a plastic lining, it can do it—and in the process, revolutionize the entire coffee industry. It would make a huge difference to landfill waste and ocean pollution around the world.

We know Starbucks leadership is hearing us—they’ve even talked with us about our campaign. But their new CEO Kevin Johnson hasn’t yet made a 100% recyclable paper cup a priority. When he does, we’ll be right there alongside him to celebrate this major milestone and success.

Join the thousands of people who have sent a message to Starbucks CEO asking him to be the change, not part of the global pollution problem at www.bettercup.earth. And remember: Bring your reusable coffee mug with you wherever you go.

Scroll down to see images from our campaign to get Starbucks to make good on their 100% recyclable cup promise:

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59 comments

i didnt know that people try to recycle the cups but where i live in a rural part of california me and my family and every one at my school campus just throws the cups in the trash we dont have recycle bins besides like a few teachers but we just end up using the recycle bins as trash bins my family recycles but just not my school and a couple weeks agao i visited my aunt in san francisco iv been there before but just didnt notice because i was little but i saw these bins called compostable bins and i ordered food that had compostable things like cups i ordered coffee cause it was cold and it was a starbucks type cup it was from a local store on pier 39 and im pretty sure starbucks cups are compostable so if we have or put up more compost bins in cities then we can throw the cups in there